CAS

Friday, February 14, 2014

The Lost Library of Q'Sh - 7

The Lost Library of Q'Sh - 7

9). The door to this room is a normal
wooden door with no lock. It opens toward Location (8.) and has a pull ring on
its outer side.

There is an iron stove, cold and
overturned in the south-east corner of the room. The ventilation pipe hangs
from the roof (inside the stove is a solid clump of ash which, if smashed
apart, reveals a piece of parchment 3/4 burned revealing 1/4 of the 1st level
of the dungeon below).

Against the north wall (marked with a
boxed X on the map) is a short but long cabinet. Inside can be found the
ancient remains of the rations that the men, now skeletons, ate in life. Once
it was home to a nest of rats, now a score of these giant creatures are also
nothing but skeletons themselves. They are animated and with the same vicious
desire to kill as their once human counterparts. With a wordless squeak they
will spring out from the cabinet if opened and, in a flow of bony feet, attack
those in the room. They are 1hd-4 creatures with 2hp each and AC of 7 and 1
bite attack that will do 1hp of damage. If the nest of rotted bones and rations
is examined 200 cp can be sifted from the debris. But if this is done a trap
door beneath the base of the wormridden boards of the cabinet will be
discovered dropping down to dungeon level 1.

The room is lined with 10 beds against
the east and 10 against the west walls. These 20 beds are simple bunks with a
wooden chest at the end of them. Each has a pillow made of chicken feathers, a
thin mattress made of straw on what were once nets of hide straps. These straps
have all been gnawed to pieces and the simple mattresses have collapsed through
them to the floor. If searched the rag pillows will reveal several items.

A). A small glass container with a tarry
black sludge at the bottom. This sludge is actually a powerful drug. If smoked
it will alleviate pain and cause minor hallucinations. There is enough for 5
doses. A pair of normal sheathed throwing daggers and a tinderbox is also in
this pillow. The daggers are lightly blackened and have a hard burnt substance
on their blades.

B). This pillow contains a silver locket
with an inscription inside saying "Love Potion Loves Her Owlbear." It
is a cheap locket with silver plate and is worth only 1sp.

C). A small flute carved from wood.
Value 5cp

D). A chipped cube of glass. Looking
through it will make anything seen through it appear larger. Value 5sp.

E). This appears
to be a small book, an adventure story set in an alternate world, but slipped
into the spine is a note in code. If deciphered by mundane or magical means it
will say, "Moonset, lower stacks".

The blankets and rag pillows are moth
eaten and torn by small claws with a rank smell of must and decay.

The 20 trunks at the feet of these beds
are all locked with cheap simple locks. +2 bonus modifier to open. They can
easily be smashed open with a sharp strike or even kicked off the chest with a
bootheel to the hasp. Inside are mostly rotted clothing, belts, boots, but each
has some personal gear and a coin pouch. These pouches will contain 3d12cp,
2d10sp, 1d8gp, 25% chance of a ring, locket or pin valued at 3d10gp,

Some have noteworthy items.

a). The bottom of this trunk has a
trapped (poison needle but the virulence of the poison has diminished with age
and not only causes 1d6 damage (rather than death) save for 1/2 damage) secret
compartment. Inside this compartment is a shirt and pants of light black cloth,
soft black shoes whose soles will an abraded surface that allows the wearer to
grip surfaces better (adds a + 5% to attempts at climbing walls or moving
across slick surfaces). There is a dried stick of black face paint, a bottle of
a dried greenish substance (once a gummy poison that could be coated on blades.
It is still faintly poisonous and eating a quantity of it will cause 3d6
damage, save for 1/2 damage), and a sheaf of thin paper with a small dried
bottle of ink and a quill pen.

There are three weapons in the case.

A set of 12 small throwing knives. These
have no grip, just a heavy tang to balance the blade weight. These small knives
are a nonmagical +2 to hit and do 1d4 damage.

A long curved double-edged dagger. The
blade is blackened with a runnel down its length (where a gummy poison could be
coated without risk of rubbing off when sheathed). It is a non-magical +2 to
hit and does 1d6 damage.

A pair of black gloves with a set of
iron spikes at the top and base of the palm. This device makes it easier to
climb (+20% bonus) and can be used in weaponless combat to add 1 HP of damage
per attack.

There is also a roll of 4 glass tubes.
Each is filled with small grayish glass pellets (5 per vial). If the glass is
broken they explode in a 10x10 ft cloud of harmless but opaque grey smoke that
will dissipate after 3 combat rounds.

b). This chest has a smaller box filled
with scrolls of an erotic nature. There are 37 scrolls that run in value to the
right 'collector' for between 5sp to 10gp each.

c). Inside this chest there is a small
wooden box. It is very old but solidly made. It seems to be filled with very
small bones, each with a mark carved upon them (if the writing can be seen at
all so minute are the letters). If they bones are removed upon the case the
will vibrate slightly and if several are removed near each other they will
begin to join together. If the entire box is dumped out they will pull
themselves in a set of 6 skeletal mice with a seventh that holds a stringed
instrument made of bones. A thin and high music will come from the instrument.
The six mouse skeletons will begin to dance around the player. Tiny squeaks
will be heard above the music. Slowly the music will grow louder and after
another minute or two the dancers will begin to bow to the ground as they
dance. They will grovel upon their bony bellies before the music. Any
characters within hearing of the music must first save versus charm or begin to
dance themselves. Those who succeed in their save must then save versus fear or
become paralyzed. This dance will go on for 5 minutes till the charmed
characters find themselves groveling on their own stomachs. Then the music will
stop and the skeletal mice will search for the box, open its lid, climb inside
and fall to pieces. The box and bones are immune to ordinary damage and if the
bones are scattered they will return (somehow) to the box by the next rising of
the moon. The character which opened the box will find it returned to his
possession no matter how he tries to get rid of it. At the waning of the moon
he must save versus charm or he will open the box again and dance.

Appendix N

Appendix N: (From Gygax's DMG)

Inspirational And Educational Reading

Inspiration for all of the fantasy work I have done stems from the love my father showed when I was a lad, for he sent many hours telling me stories he made up as he went along, tales of cloaked old men who could grant wishes, of magic rings and enchanted swords, or wicked sorcerors and dauntless swordsmen. Then too, countless hundreds of comic books went down, and the long-gone EC ones certainly had their effect. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies were a big influence, in fact, all of us tend to get ample helpings of fantasy when we are very young, from fairy tales such as those written by the brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang. This often leads to reading books of mythology, paging through bestiaries, and consultation of compilations of the myths of various lands and peoples. Upon such a base I built my interest in fantasy, being an avid reader of all science fiction and fantasy literature since 1950. The following authors were of particular inspiration to me. In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all their fantasy writing to you. From such sources, as well as just about any other imaginative writing or screenplay you will be able to pluck kernels from which grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!

Inspirational Reading:

Anderson, Poul. THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE, The BROKEN SWORD

Moorcock, Michael. STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" Series (esp. the first three books)

Norton, Andre.

Offut, Andrew J., editor SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS III

Pratt, Fletcher. BLUE STAR; et al.

Saberhagen, Fred. CHANGELING EARTH; et al.

St. Clair, Margaret. THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYS

Tolkien, J.R.R. THE HOBBIT; "Ring Trilogy"

Vance, Jack. THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al.

Weinbaum, Stanley.

Wellman, Manly Wade.Williamson, Jack.

Zelazny, Roger. JACK OF SHADOWS; "Amber" Series; et al.

The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, REH, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, HPL, and A. Merritt; but all the above authors, as well as many not listed, certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For ythis reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you.